Device for removing materials from a compressor



June 4, 1968 KUNITOSHI TEZUKA 3,386,375

DEVICE FOR REMOVING MATERIALS FROM A COMPRESSOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 2. 1966 v INVENTOR.

KUN ITOSHI TEZUKA Zdfz AGENT June 1968 KUNITOSHI TEZUKA 3,386,375

DEVICE FOR REMOVING MATERIALS FROM A COMPRESSOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 2, 1966 FIG. 5

'INVENTOR KUNITOSHI TEZUKA AGENT United States Patent 3,386,375 DEVICE FOR REMOVING MATERIALS FROM A COMPRESSOR Kunitoshi Tezuka, 34 7-chome, Minamisuma-machi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,916 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 21, 1965,

14 Claims. (Cl. 100218) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Device for removing materials from a compressor, such as compressed scrap-metal blocks from a compressor particularly adapted for forming into blocks various iron and metal materials to be re-procesed in a furnace. The device has a drive mechanism operatively connected to the casing of the compressor into which the materials are introduced, for reciprocating a pressure plate slidable in the casing, an ope-rational plate interposed between the drive mechanism and the pressure plate, and a track at the level or above the edge of the structure, allowing the pressure plate to be moved therealong once it is elevated to said level by the intermediary of the operational plate.

Preferably wheels are secured to the underside of the pressure plate to be moved therealong once it is elevated of the operational plate, and the track is provided with rails for rolling the presure plate therealong.

The present invention relates to a device for removing materials from a compressor; more particularly, compressed scrap-metal blocks from a compressor for making such blocks of various shapes and weights from a variety of scrap lumps of various materials.

Hitherto, crane devices and other kinds of lifting means have been employed and proposed for discharging or removing compressed scrap-rnetal blocks from compressors, but any of these devices require large-scale equipment, would be troublesome to operate, and prove to be a hindrance rather than a help in efiicient operation.

It is one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide a novel delivery device for scrap-metal and other compressors, which is capable of rapidly and efficiently removing the compacted or compressed blocks out of the compression casings.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of this kind which has a simple construction, yet is efiicient in smoothly carrying out the removal of scrap-metal blocks.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a scrap-metal compressor provided with a delivery device of this kind, by introducing improvements into already known compressors which lend themselves to the scraplump compressing operation.

The subject matter of the present application is closely related to appli-cants co-pending patent applications, filed on even date with the present case, entitled Scrap-Metal Compressor Ser. No. 576,915, Scrap-Metal Compressor Ser. No. 576,917, Rotary Scrap-Metal Compressor, Ser. No. 576,918, and Hoisting Sling Having Fusible Connecnection and Method for Charging Materials into a Furnace, Ser. No. 576,919. With a view to avoiding details in each of these applications which are only of secondary importance, it should be understood that the disclosures of the simultaneously filed applications are to be considered as complementing each other, where necessary.

According to important features of the present invention, the device for removing materials from a compressor comprises a bucket plate within the compression casing of the compressor, and preferably having wheels on its 3,386,375 Patented June 4, 1-968 underside, and a track, preferably including rails for said wheels, cooperating with the opening of said casing, and extending away therefrom, for moving the bucket plate away together wit-h a compacted scrap-metal block thereon.

The compressor to which the inventive device is fitted, and which also forms the subject matter of the present invention, is fitted with the afore-rnentioned compression casing, with an operational plate reciprocable within said casing on effect of conventional drive means, and with an end plate or pressure receiver at the opening of the casing opposite to that where the operational plate is normally located.

In a compressor of the above-described structure scraps in the form of lumps are thrown into the compression casing so as to be formed into blocks by compression, while they rest on the bucket plate. Once the block is formed, the operational plate is made to move out of the casing, the end plate is opened, and the operational plate is advanced up to the opening edge of the casing. Thus the compressed block is freely exposed, outside the casing, as it lies on the bucket plate.

Thereupon, the bucket plate is moved out onto the track or rails by proper traction means, and the scrap-metal block thereon is delivered to a specified point by having the bucket plate itself travel along the track. The block can then be unloaded at the point of destination; the empty bucket plate can be returned to the site of the compressor, allowed to slide or roll onto the operational plate, to be returned to its original or starting place inside the casing. The plates can thus participate again in the Compression of the next load of scraps.

According to the device and the compressor forming the subject matter of this invention, the compressed blocks will travel on the track immediately upon being completed by compression, unchanged, and in the condition in which they lie on the bucket plate, so that operational efiiciency is substantially increased. Moreover, the structure of the device is very simple so that its manufacturing and installation costs will be very low.

Provided the terminal of the track or the rails therealong is extended as far as the charging port of an electric or other furnace for scrap re-processing, or the underside of a conventional crane installation, the compacted blocks can be delivered directly to said furnace or said crane installation, while on the bucket plate, without reloading or unloading at an intermediate point.

The present invention will be better understood, and additional advantages thereof will become more apparent, upon perusal of the following description of an exemplary, preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the appended drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional, frontal view of a scrapmetal compressor fitted with the device for removing materials therefrom;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the compressor and the device shown in FIG. 1, with portions cut away and the end plate of the compressor opened;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the bucket plate according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the operational plate according to the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an actuating system for the rams and cylinders of the scrap-metal compressor fitted with the inventive device.

Before proceeding with the detailed description of the inventive device, it should be noted that identical even reference numerals have been used in the present application, in compliance with corresponding structural elements of the above-mentioned application Ser. No. 576,915, entitled Scrap-Metal Compressor, While in each application, odd reference numerals denote dissimilar elements. The present disclosure being somewhat simplified, there are of course less identified elements than in the other application. Owing to the close correlation of the respective subjects matter, this will facilitate the understanding of the disclosures.

The compressor to which the inventive device for material removal is attached or added includes a compressor casing 2 having a bottom plate 4 which is substantially cylindrical and rests in upright position on the floor F. Within said casing 2 there is slidably inserted a diskshaped operational plate 3; on its top there is provided a disk-shaped bucket plate or pressure plate 5. On the open upper end of the casing there is mounted a pressure receiver or end plate 6 which can be opened and closed, and locked, as will be explained somewhat later.

The operational plate 3 is connected with the upper end of one or more rams 8 (only one being illustrated) of appropriate hydraulic cylinders 8a which are supported in vertical position by the bottom plate 4 of the casing, the operational and bucket plates 3, 5 being vertically reciprocable inside the casing 2 by introducing and respectively discharging hydraulic fluid into and from the cylinders 8a. The upper face of the bucket plate 5 is formed with a concave recess 9, preferably bowl-shaped, and corresponding to the interior of a melting furnace. A cylinder chamber 10 is arranged in pit form underneath the compressor, in floor F, just below the bottom plate 4 of the casing, for accommodating the downwardly directed cylinder or cylinders 8a.

-The operational plate 3 is so designed that, as can be seen from FIG. 4, its upper, marginal periphery has two arcuate, convex protrusions 7 formed in parallel relationship with two channels 11 inside of the convex portions. Conversely, as is shown in FIG. 3, the periphery of the lower bucket side has two arcuate, concave recesses 13 in plate 5, adapted to take up the afore-mentioned protrusions of the plate 3. The sliding interengagement of these portions is visible in FIG. 1 but not in FIG. 2 which is taken at right angles to FIG, 1.

Inside each concave recess 13, a pair of wheels 15 is journaled, the wheels having a diameter smaller than the vertical distance provided therefor when the portions 7, 13 touch each other. When the bucket plate 5 rests on top of the operational plate 3, the convexes 7 will fit slidably into the concaves 13, thereby making the transit of the bucket plate 5 smooth when pushed onto the rails (to be described later), as shown in FIG. 2, the wheels being freely rota-table without touching the channels 11, and without suflfering any pressure when the scrap metal is compressed in the casing 2 by pressure applied to the plates 3, 5 from below or from above, as will be explained later. FIG. 2 shows how a ring 17 is pivotally attached to one side of the bucket plate, intermediate the pairs of wheels 15, inside a concave recess provided in the plate 5, and serving for traction of the same when on the rails.

The pressure receiver 6 is substantially disk-shaped and may have lateral brackets (not shown) disposed diametrally .on opposite sides of the receiver. Along a perpendicular diameter, there are oppositely arranged one or more hinges, with one of them terminating in a projecting arm 19, and a flange 14, which engage structural elements of the casing 2 as will be explained later. An intermediate portion of the arm 19 is pivoted at a bracket 26 secured to the side wall of the casing 2, for purposes to be described as the specification proceeds, about a pivot point 30.

The pressure receiver or end plate 6 has a plurality of ram holes 16 (see FIG. 1) at substantially equal intervals. These holes traverse the disk-shaped receiver 6, and on the upper surface of the receiver, there are spotpressure rams 18 with associated hydraulic cylinders 18a, held by respective supporting means in positions corresponding to each of the holes 16. A centrally located ram 28, with its cylinder 28a, has a relatively long ram stroke so as to constitute a push ram capable of advancing as close as possible to the bucket plate 5. A supporting frame 29 mounts the cylinder 28a on top of the end plate 6.

The rams 18 and the single ram 28 are inserted into the holes 16 of the pressure receiver 6; when receding, the lower ends of the rams are located at the same level as the lower face of the receiver 6; when advanced by action of the hydraulic fluid within the cylinders, the rams will protrude by a proper distance into the compression casing 2, below the lower face of the receiver 6. The front ends of the rams will thus approach the recess 9 of the pressure or bucket plate 5 when located in its retracted position shown in both FIGS. 1 and 2.

While a single, centrally located long-stroke ram has been described and illustrated, it will be understood that more, e.g. four, strategically disposed such rams may be disposed on the end plate Also, no special arrangement has been shown for the regular-stroke rams, for the sake of clarity; however, they may be provided in two or more groups, operable synchronously within each group but independently from each other, for applying selective spot pressures to various portions of the metal scrap inside the casing.

Feed pipes 22a are connected with each cylinder 18.1, while pipes 221; constitute discharge conduits for the same.

FIG. 5 shows, in a somewhat schematic manner, an actuating system or mechanism generally designated by numeral 50, for the rams and cylinders of the compressor. In a conventionally known manner, the aforementioned feed pipes 22a, 22b are connected in the system 5%) to a source of hydraulic fluid, for example an oil tank 52. A conventional hydraulic pump 54 may convey the fluid to said feed pipes over appropriate valves 56 and changeover switches 58. A pressurized fluid tank (not shown) may be provided on the discharge side of the pump 54- which branches off to the feed pipes by way of a single feed pipe 60, by the intermediary of the valves 56. The discharge pipes lead back to the tank 52 either directly, as shown, or by way of the same valves (not shown).

Owing to this arrangement, each ram may be moved back and forth (that is, up and down, as viewed in FIG. 1), synchronously or separately.

For the cylinder or cylinders 28a of rams 28, separate feed and discharge pipes 24a, 24b are provided (see FIGS. 1 and 5) so as to allow this group of one or more rams to be controlled separately and with greater power.

The pressure receiver or end plate 6 is provided with an opening and closing means on the side opposite the aforementioned projecting arm 19, where the flange 14 is located, and this will now be described in detail. Referring to FIG. 1, a bracket 21 is mounted on the lower part of the casing side wall, and one end of a cylinder 38a associated with a ram 38 is pivotally attached to this bracket. The fore end of the ram 38 is rotatably connected with the extreme end of the arm 19 by way of a pin 23. Thus, upon energization and disenergization of the cylinder 38a, by way of the actuating system 50, the end plate 6 is pivoted about the point 30, for respective opening and closing movements. FIG. 1 shows the end plate 6 in the closed position; it is opened when ram 38 is retracted into cylinder 38a, thereby pivoting the plate 6 about the pivot point 30, while cylinder 38a itself pivots about the pivot bracket 21.

In FIG. 5, the actuating system 50 is shown to include the valves 56 and change-over switches 58 for the various rams and associated cylinders, such as those (13, 28; 18a, 28a) of the rams, of the drive mechanism (8, 8a), of the operating mechanism (38, 38a) and of the locking means (48, 48a) to be described hereunder in detail.

A locking means is also provided for the pressure receiver 6, as will now be described. The casing 2 has at its upper edge a flange 36 on the side corresponding to the flange 14 of the receiver 6. Underneath the flange 36, the casing carries an arm 40, the terminal portion of which carries a hydraulic cylinder 48a for a ram 48. The forward end of the ram has a clamp 42 with a channel which is adapted simultaneously to hold the flanges 36 and 14 wen the receiver is closed (as illustrated). The clamp 42 can of course be moved toward and away from the flanges for engaging and disengaging them, respectively. The lower side of clamp 42 slidably engages a rail 44, e.g. with a recessed portion, the rail 44 being supported by the top surface of arm 40. This facilitates the movement and operation of the clamp.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, a pair of rails 25 is mounted at the upper level of the compression casing 2, on one of the sides at right angles with respect to the locking means described before. The other end of the rails is extended to any convenient location, e.-g. the charging port of an electric furnace, underneath a crane, or the like. There are two channels 27 formed on the edge of the upper casing opening where the rails 25 are mounted for the purpose of having the wheels of the bucket plate 5 pass along. The track or rails extend away from the scrap-metal compressor so that the pressure plate, once it is elevated to the height of the track, can be moved away together with a compacted scrap-metal block thereon.

Now the operation and function of the scrap-metal compressor, fitted with the removing device according to the invention, will be described, starting with the condition of the components as shown in FIG. 1. The clamp 42 is made to recede by means of hydraulic fluid introduced from the system 50 into the cylinder 48a, and thus the end plate 6 can be opened, whereafter the ram 38 is made to recede so as to open the end plate by means of hydraulic fluid sent into the cylinder 38a. Scrap lumps are thrown into the compression casing 2, either by conventional means or by way of the above-mentioned (not illustrated) hopper, the end plate 6 is closed and locked with the clamp 42.

Thereafter, the operational plate 3 and the pressure or bucket plate 5 are elevated by actuating the cylinder 8a, and the scrap lumps thrown into the casing 2 are now compressed between the end plate 6 and the bucket plate 5. Owing to this compression, the lumps are compacted into a block; nevertheless, there will be dense ortions and loose or coarse portions in the interior of the scrap-metal block.

Thereupon, each spot-pressure ram 18 is lowered by operating the respective cylinder 18a, and a compression force is concentratedly applied to the portions of the block with which the front end of each ram comes into contact, so that the coarse portions will become more dense, and the dense portions even denser, and thus the block will become compacted as a whole. It is desirable to repeat the spot compression several times.

Subsequently, the operational plate 3 is advanced so as to level off or smoothen the unevenness formed on the block top surface on account of the spot compressions. If the block does not reach the specified weight, or appears to be smaller than required, the end plate 6 is opened again and fresh scraps are introduced. It may happen, however, that when the end plate is opened the block may have adhered thereto so as to make scrap charging impossible. Therefore, the push ram 28 is moved downward by actuating its cylinder 28a so as to make the block fall off the end plate, into the bucket plate 5, and then the end plate is opened again. When a block of a specified size or weight is attained, the end plate is opened and the operational plate 3 is elevated up to its position above the edge of the casing opening, as shown in FIG. 2 in dotdash lines, so that the bucket plate 5 carrying a compacted block thereon is exposed outside the casing.

It will be understod that in the foregoing operational description, it is always FIG. 5 and the actuating system 50 shown therein which is referred to when introducing fluid into or allowing the same to be discharged from the respective cylinders 8a, 18a, 28a, 38a and/or 48;: of the inventive arrangement of the removing device fitted to a scrap-metal compressor.

Thereafter, the bucket plate 5 is pulled out onto the track or rails 25 by hooking a tractor bar or traction wire or the like to the ring 17; the plate 5 with the scrap-metal block is thus hauled off to make it travel to the electric furnace, crane or the like. When the block is removed from the plate, the latter is returned to the waiting plate 3, and thence the operation including the compression of scraps is repeated, as has been described in the foregoing.

With reference to the schematic illustration of FIG. 5 it should be noted that the invention contemplates the provision of the necessary hydraulic pump 54, as shown, or pumps, tank 52 or tanks, solenoid-type valves 56 and 58, and other conventional expedients for the above-mentioned hydraulic cylinders, substantially within the framework of the actuating system generally designated by numeral 50. The change-over valves 58 may be provided, in conjunction with controlling and supervisory devices (not shown), depending upon the degree of automation desired when operating the scrap-metal compressor fitted with the removing device according to the invention.

Instead of the above-mentioned pressurized-water, oil or other hydraulic-fluid system, other hydraulic or similar systems may be used to the same effect. The cylinders and rams mentioned in the specification should be considered with these possible mechanical and functional equivalents in mind.

It should be noted that one or more hydraulic pumps 54, compressors, or other sources of pressurized fluid may be provided in the actuating system 50 in a conventional manner.

The present invention and the device disclosed in the application is not only applicable to compressors which have no spot-pressure rams or no push ram, as described above, but is also applicable to those compressor embodiments which have only one of these rams provided therein.

It should be noted that the structural details of the scrap-metal compressor, as disclosed herein, are only of an exemplary nature, and that the device for removing materials from a compressor, according to the invention, is adapted to various other kinds of compressors as well. In particularl the device can advantageously be used with the type of compressor disclosed in the afore-mentioned copending application Ser. No. 576,915, entitled Scrap' Metal Compressor.

The foregoing disclosure relates only to preferred, exemplary embodiments of the invention, which is intended to include all changes and modifications of the examples described, within the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device for removing materials from a compressor, the latter including an elongated, substantially vertical compressor casing for receiving materials to be compacted, and a pressure plate slidably disposed within said casing, the device comprising drive means operatively con- 1 nected to said casing at its lower end for reciprocating said pressure plate, an operational plate interposed between said drive means and said pressure plate, and track means substantially at level of the upper end of said casing, adapted for said pressure plate to be moved therealong after being elevated to said level by the intermediary of said operational plate.

2. The removing device as defined in claim 1, further comprising rolling means for said pressure plate, said means including at least one .pair of wheels secured to the underside of said pressure plate, a corresponding pair of channels in the upper surface of said operational plate, and wherein said track means includes rails for rolling said pressure plate therealong byway of said wheels.

3. The removing device as defined in claim 1, further comprising-immobilizing means for said pressure plate, said means including lateral protruding portions on one of said plates, and complementary lateral recess portions in the other of said plates, for preventing rotation of said pressure plate with respect to said operational plate while in superposed contacting relation.

4. The removing device as defined in claim 1, wherein said compressor further includes a pressure receiver removably attached to said upper end of the casing, and the device further comprising at least one reciprocable ram means traversing said pressure receiver and energizable for applying a compressive force in a direction toward said lower end of the casing.

5. The removing device as defined in claim 4, wherein said compressor further includes hinged attaching means for said pressure receiver, and releasable locking means for selectively locking and unlocking said pressure receiver, and the device further comprising operating means for selectively opening and closing said pressure receiver.

6. The removing device as defined in claim 5, further comprising oil pressure actuating means for said drive means, said ram means, said locking means, and said Operating means, allowing selective operation thereof independently from each other.

7. A scrap-metal compressor for forming into blocks of desired shape iron and metal materials to be re-processed in a furnace in the form of said blocks, including a device for removing said blocks from the compressor, comprising an elongated, substantially vertical compressor casing for receiving the materials to be compacted, a pressure plate slidably disposed within said casing, drive means operatively connected to said casing at its lower end for reciprocating said pressure plate, an operational plate interposed between said drive means and said pressure plate, and track means substantially at the level of the upper end of said casing, adapted for said pressure plate to be moved therealong after being elevated to said level by the intermediary of said operational plate.

8. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 7, further comprising a pressure receiver removably attached to said upper end of the casing, and a plurality of reciprocable ram means traversing said pressure receiver and energizable for applying a compressive force to said materials in said casing in a direction toward said pressure plate.

9. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 8, wherein said ram means include at least one longstroke ram separately energizable from the remaining ram means.

10. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 8, further comprising hinged attaching means for said pressure receiver, and releasable locking means for selectively locking and unlocking said pressure receiver.

11. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 10, further comprising operating means for selectively opening and closing said pressure receiver.

12. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 11, further comprising oil-pressure actuating means for said drive means, said ram means, said locking means, and said operating means, allowing selective operation thereof independently from each other.

13. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 19, further comprising rolling means for said pressure plate, said means including at least one pair of wheels secured to the under side of said pressure plate, a corresponding pair of channels in the upper surface of said operational plate, and wherein said track means includes rails for rolling said pressure plate therealong by way of said wheels.

14. The scrap-metal compressor as defined in claim 10, further comprising immobilizing means for said pressure plate, said means including lateral protruding portions on One of said plates, and complementary lateral recess portions in the other of said plates, for preventing rotation of said pressure plate with respect to said operational plate while in superposed contacting relation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,221,806 11/1940 Loomis.

2,341,012 2/1944 Billman et al. 2541 2,934,002 4/1960 Holt 100-215 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 311,408 3/1919 Germany.

BILLY J. WILHITE, Primary Examiner. 

